Vehicle door fastening



Oct. 29, 1957 J. HARMAN VEHICLE DOOR FASTENING 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1

Filed April 2, 1956 a 8m 2 4 H 34 15:03 AHF .m/c F a w Oct. 29, 1957 J. HARMAN VEHICLE DOOR FASTENING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 2, 1956 VEHICLE DOOR FASTENING Julius Harman, Oakham, Dudley, England, assignor to Wilmot-Breeden Limited, Birmingham, England Application April 2, 1956, Serial No. 575,420 Claims priority, application Great Britain April 7, 1955 3 Claims. (Cl. 292-335) This invention has for its object to provide in a convenient form, a door fastening for use more particularly on a vehicle body of the so-called pillarless-type.

A door fastening in accordance with the invention comprises a keeper of conical or like form adapted to be secured to the body of the vehicle at a position adjacent to that occupied by the lower end of the free vertical edge of the door when the latter is closed, and a fitting adapted to be mounted in a corresponding position on the door, which fitting includes a socket for engagement by the keeper, a vertically slidable bolt engageable with a notch on the keeper and having a lateral projection thereon, and a spring loaded and pivoted push piece having therein a notch engageable by the said projection, the arrangement being such that on retraction of the bolt, the push piece by exerting pressure on one end of the keeper can impart an initial opening movement to the door.

A fastening in accordance with the invention also comprises a keeper in the form of a metal plate adapted to be secured to the vehicle body at a position adjacent to that occupied by the upper edge of the door when closed, which plate has therein an obliquely disposed hole, and a fitting adapted to be secured to the upper edge of the door which fitting includes an obliquely slidable and spring loaded bolt for engagement with the hole in the keeper, and a pivoted lever of substantially bell-crank form for actuating the bolt.

Moreover, the invention comprises manually-operable mechanism as hereinafter described and adapted to be mounted at or about the centre of the door, for actuating the lower and upper bolts.

In the accompanying drawings Figures 1 and 2 respectiveiy are a sectional end and a sectional side elevation of the fastening applied to a door, and Figures 3 and 4 are sections on the lines 33 and 44 of Figures 2 and 1 respectively.

In the illustrated example, one part of the fastening comprises a keeper 5 of conical or like form having a transverse notch 6 at one side, which is secured atone end to one face of an angle bracket 7, the latter being adapted to be secured to the body of the vehicle at a position adjacent to that occupied by the lower end of the free vertical edge of the door 8 when closed. For attachment to the corresponding position on the door there is provided a hollow fitting which includes a socket 9 for reception of the keeper. in this fitting is contained a vertically slidable bolt 1t), which in one convenient form consists of a flat metal plate adapted to engage edgewise the notch in the keeper, and a portion of the plate is split to provide a part which is bent outwardly from the plane of the bolt to form a lateral projection 11. Also in this fitting is pivoted a push piece 12 made from a metal plate and having in one of its edges a notch 13 which can receive the outer end of the lateral projection 11 on the bolt. To the pivot spindle 14 of the push piece is secured an actuating arm 15. Also around this spindle is coiled a strong spring 16 one end of which engages the push piece and the other end of which engages the bolt.

ite States Patent x 2,811 ,382 Patented Oct. 29, 1957 The arrangement is such that in the closing action of the door one edge of the push piece 12 encounters the outer end of the keeper 5 and the spring is thereby energised. When the door reaches its fully closed position the bolt 10 is engaged with the notch 6 in the keeper by the spring 16. On retracting the bolt 10, the outer end of the lateral projection 11 thereon enters the notch 13 in the push piece and is thereby held. Also under the action of the spring 16 the push piece by the pressure which it exerts on the keeper imparts an initial opening movement to the door. Both the bolt 10 and the arm 15 are connected respectively by links 17 and 18 to the manually-operable actuating mechanism to be hereinafter described.

The notch 6 in the keeper may he stepped at one side to provide a portion 6 into which the bolt 10 can engage to provide a safety position in the event of the door being closed insufliciently to admit of the bolt entering completely into the notch 6.

If desired, a fastening similar to the foregoing may also be arranged at the upper part of the door, but as it is desirable to obviate any projection on the upper portionof the body which might injure a person entering or leaving the vehicle a modified form of fastening is provided.

In the illustrated example, the keeper 19 for attachment to the body of the vehicle at a position above the. door, consists of a flat metal plate which is secured be neath and parallel with the upper edge of the body part, and in this plate is formed an obliquely disposed hole. When the keeper 19 is required to serve the upper fastenings of a pair of doors, the plate has formed in it two oppositely inclined holes. For attachment to the door there is provided a fitting which includes an obliquely arranged bolt 20 which is slidable in the plane of the door and has one end adapted to engage the hole in the keeper 19. Also this fitting includes a spring-loaded lever of substantially bell-crank form, one arm 21 of which engages a gap 22 in the bolt, and the other arm 23 of which is connected by a link 24 to the manuallyoperable actuating mechanism hereinbefore referred to. Preferably the arms 21 and 23 of this lever are separate and are relatively movable, both arms being carried by a short pivot spindle 25, and joint movement of the arms being effected by the interaction of shoulders 21 and 23 on the arms 21 and 23 respectively. The arm 21 is also loaded by a spring 26 in a direction to engage the bolt 20 with the keeper 19.

Any convenient manually-operable mechanism adapted to be mounted on or near the centre of the free edge of the door may be provided for actuating the bolts 10 and 20, but preferably this mechanism comprises the follow ing combination of parts.

On a pivot pin 27 is mounted a three armed sheet metal lever 28, one arm of which is connected through the link 17 to the bolt 10, and another arm of which is connected through a curved link 29 to the link 24 for actuating the upper bolt 20. The third arm of this lever has formed in it an arcuate slot 30 in which is engaged a pin 31 carried by the one arm of a link 32. The opposite end of this link 32 is pivotally connected to a radial arm 33 in the spindle 34 of a handle 35 adapted for manual operation from the inside of the door. Angular movement of the handle 35 to the left as viewed in Figure 2, will impart a rocking movement to the lever 23 in a direction to raise the link 17 and draw the link 24 downwardly thereby retracting both bolts. However, angular movement of the handle 35 to the right as viewed in Figure 2, will move the pin 31 to the opposite end of the slot 30 in the lever 28, in which position the link 32 and arm 33 form an extended toggle-linkage which will prevent angular movement of the lever 28 in a direction to retract the bolts and thereby provide a locked position of the fastening.

In order to efiect a retraction of the bolts from the outside of the door there are provided two further sheet metal levers 36 and 37 both pivoted on the pin 27 and a spring-loaded push button 38. The lever 37 is a two armed lever, the one arm being connected to a coiled tension spring 39, and the other arm having formed in it a keyhole slot 40 in which a part of the push button 38 is located. Also this arm has a laterally extending part 41 which is disposed below a shoulder 42 on the lever 28.

The lever 36 is pivotally connected to the link 18 connected to the spring-loaded push piece 12, and also has formed in it a slot 43 in which is mounted a guide sleeve 44 for the push button 38. The latter is provided with a neck portion 45 which is normally accommodated within the sleeve 44, but which is brought into register with the keyhole slot 40 in the lever 37 when the push button is depressed. This neck portion 45 is of such a size that it can be accommodated in the narrower portion of the slot 40, whilst the inner end of the push button can slide in the wider portion of the slot 40, but cannot be accommodated in the narrower portion.

Assuming that the mechanism is unlocked and it is required to open the door from the outside, then the push button 38 is depressed to bring the neck 45 into the slot 40. The spring 39 thereupon rocks the lever 37 clockwise as viewed in Figure 2, and by virtue of the abutment of the part 41 with the shoulder 42 imparts a similar movement to the lever 28 to retract the bolts 10 and 20. The spring 16 acting on the push piece 12 imparts an initial opening movement to the door, and also through the link 18 imparts a clockwise movement to the lever 36 (as viewed in Figure 2) sufficient to bring the push button into the wider part of the slot 40, whereupon the push button moves outwardly under the action of its spring loading to disengage the neck 45 from the slot 40. When the door is reclosed the interaction of the keeper and push piece 12 will rock the lever 36 anti-clockwise (as viewed in Figure 2). Since the wider portion of the push button cannot enter the narrower portion of the slot 40, this movement will also be imparted to the lever 37 so as to restress the spring 39. If the press button is depressed with the mechanism in the locked position no movement of the lever 37 can take place due to the engagement of the part 41 with the shoulder 42 of the locked lever 28.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A vehicle door fastening comprising a tapered keepr er, a vertically slidable bolt carried by the fitting and engageable with the notch in the keeper for retaining the door in its closed position, a pivotal member mounted on the fitting in a position where the pivotal member can be moved in one direction by contact with the keeper when the door approaches its fully closed position, and a spring connected to the pivotal member and the bolt so that movement of the pivotal member by contact with the keeper causes the spring to be energised, and the bolt to be moved by the spring into engagement with the notch in the keeper, the bolt having thereon a lateral projection, and the pivotal member having therein a notch which is engageable by the projection to retain the bolt when the latter is disengaged from the keeper;

2. A vehicle door fastening according to claim 1, and having in combination therewith a manually-controllable mechanism for disengaging the bolt from the notch in the keeper, which mechanism'includes a first lever connected to the pivotal member, a spring-loaded second lever movable against the action of its spring loading by the first lever in response to movement of the pivotal member in the direction for causing engagement of the slidable bolt with the notch in the keeper, and a springloaded push button carried by the first lever, which push button serves when in its 'normal position to interconnect and prevent relative movement of the first and second levers, but when depressed permits relative movement of'the second lever by its spring loading for disengaging the slidable bolt from the keeper, whereupon similar movement is imparted by the pivotal member to the first lever .for enabling the push button to return to its normal position in which it prevents relative movement of the first and second levers.

3. A. vehicle door fastening according to claim 1, and comprising a second keeper in the form of a metal plate which is securable to the vehicle body at a position adjacent to that occupied by the upper edge of the door when the latter is closed, and which is provided with an obliquely disposed hole, a fitting securable to the upper edge of the-door and carrying an obliquely slidable and spring loaded bolt for engagement with the hole in the keeper, and a manually-operable actuating mechanism connected to both the vertically slidable bolt and the obliquely slidable bolt, and mountable in the region of the center of the door adjacent to its free vertical edge.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,431,562 Bolles Oct. 10, 1922 1,518,187 Dyer Dec. 9, 1924 1,869,274 Phillips July 26, 1932 1,934,105 Totty Nov. 7, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 358,586 Great Britain Oct. 12, 1931 

